Is your dog a total “dog”? So asks this billboard spotted in Los Angeles, purportedly offering canine plastic surgery from one Dr. Steven Armond. It turns out it’s a promotion for Kroll Show, an upcoming sketch-comedy show on Comedy Central starring Nick Kroll. Similar ads have been seen on the New York City subway, where they take on a real Dr. Zizmor glow.

Jennifer Lopez’s mother spent over $16,000 on three plastic surgery procedures when she was just 15 years old so she could look more like… Jennifer Lopez.

The 23-year-old Colombian who lives in South London flew to her native country when she was a teenager to have liposuction, breast implants and buttock fillers in one day, aiming to create a body more similar to that of her pop star idol, British tabloid The Sun reports.

“I felt like there was nothing about me — no boobs or bum, no defined figure. I just felt like a blob,” Lopez told The Sun. “Since having my surgery, I’ve had so much attention from men. I love it.”

A ban on cut-price deals and a clampdown on aggressive sales techniques for cosmetic surgery are among ideas submitted to a review of the industry ordered in the wake of the PIP breast implant scandal.

A two-stage consent process for potential patients to allow them time to reflect before making a final decision were among suggestions given to the review into the plastic surgery industry being led by Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS medical director.

The ideas from the public, the industry and patient groups to safeguard people thinking of having cosmetic procedures are included in an interim report that will feed into the review, due to be published in March.

The report was welcomed by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) – which also said its proposals would need some tightening up if they were to be implemented.

Science writer Vivienne Parry, who is one of the Keogh review committee members, said: “Aggressive marketing techniques are often used to maximise profit. This may be the right approach for selling double glazing but not for people having or considering whether to have surgery.

“Everyone who decides to have cosmetic surgery should have time to think about the risks. Time limited deals and offers on voucher websites pressure people to make snap decisions.”

The review was requested by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last January after concerns about cosmetic surgery were raised following the public outcry over faulty PIP breast implants and could lead to tighter regulation of the industry.

Around 40,000 women in the UK received implants manufactured by the now-closed French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP), mostly in private UK clinics.

The implants were filled with non-medical grade silicone intended for use in mattresses.

Flicking through her photos on her living room couch, Julia Quinn recounts the array of plastic surgery procedures she has undergone.

“That is when I had my eye done again, a bump taken out of my nose,” she says, looking at a photo of her severely swollen face.

There isn’t much cosmetic surgery that this housewife from Surrey in the UK has not had done.

A few years ago, feeling unhappy about the lines around her eyes and mouth, she first dabbled in surgery. She opted for a private clinic in the UK, but after a bad experience there she started looking around for alternative places to get the work done. That’s when she first discovered that South Africa offered the same procedures at a fraction of the cost, she says.

“You get a lot of good surgeons and dentists in South Africa,” says Quinn. “It’s like a holiday — you are looked after, the weather is fine.”

January is a good time to flee the UK’s winter weather, so Quinn is heading back to Johannesburg for more work. This time it’s a mini facelift and more liposuction. In total, she will have spent nearly $15,000 on surgery in South Africa. She says should would have spent a lot more if she had continued to be treated in the UK.

In a suburb in northern Johannesburg Lorraine Melvill is running around trying to organize hospital visits for her clients staying in her guest house. She started her business, “Surgeon and Safari,” back in 2000 and since then she has had people from all over the world, including Quinn, come to her to facilitate their cosmetic procedures, and perhaps go on safari too.

“Bride-to-be Angelina Jolie plans to undergo an extreme plastic surgery makeover before she weds Brad Pitt!” announces the National Enquirer.

According to the tab’s “sources,” the actress “desperately wants a head-to-toe overhaul, and an expert estimates it could cost her a cool $45,000.”

“Angelina believes she looks old and she’s tired of it,” explains an “insider” for the Enquirer.

What’s supposedly making Jolie upset?

“She’s freaking out over the frown lines on her forehead, her jowls and a few pockets of fat that she’s spotted on her tummy, butt and thighs,” says the tab’s source. “But this isn’t really about weight. Angie’s main worry is that her body is starting to sag, which she absolutely hates.”

From childhood, Justin hated his looks. Now after 90 procedures – including five nose jobs, biceps implants and an eyebrow lift – his mother, Tanya Marsik, is terrified he will die on the operating table

Looking back at childhood photos of my four children I can hardly recognise my oldest son, Justin. Born with high cheekbones, thick dark hair and a sweet smile, I always thought he was a handsome boy. But now, after 90 cosmetic procedures including Botox, implants and silicone injections, he looks more like a plastic doll than a human being.

It breaks my heart to know that Justin, 32, has spent more than $110,000 (Dh403,700) of his hard-earned money creating a whole new person, when he could have spent that money investing in his education or buying his own home.

But unlike my other three children – Billy, 28, Jordan, 26, and Christine, 24 – he is the unique one in our family and, as an artist, he is always aiming for perfection.

The preliminary hearing of Carlos Guzmangarza, an accused medical impostor who allegedly performed cosmetic procedures and defrauded women of thousands of dollars, continued Monday with grisly testimony from one of the alleged victims of the case.

The 49-year-old Guzmangarza is charged with running a Mission District business called Derma Clinic, where he allegedly posed as a physician’s assistant named Carlos Guzman who was qualified to perform plastic surgery. He is now in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.

One of Guzmangarza’s alleged victims, questioned by Guzmangarza’s public defender Michelle Tong, described a harrowing experience of being injected through her eyebrow and her forehead, until the needle poked out on top, during what she believed was a facelift at Guzmangarza’s clinic at 2588 Mission Street in 2010.

Another alleged incident took place at Guzmangarza’s home, where the witness said he performed a buttock augmentation procedure near his dining room table, with his mother present in the house.

“I felt a bit of mistrust,” the Spanish-speaking victim said through a translator. Guzmangarza, known to the victim as “Dr. Carlos,” allegedly had her stand while he injected her buttocks with liquid to make them “bigger.”